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by Spencer Miller, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Oregon organic farmer David Brown didn’t start off growing 400-pound pumpkins, but every fall they hold a prominent place on Brown’s Mustard Seed Farms. Starting out as a 26-acre farm in Marion County, Oregon, Brown has grown his diverse, organic operation to 80-acres while also achieving large gains …Read More

By STEPHANIE STROM, The United States Department of Agriculture plans to announce Monday that it will spend $52 million to support local and regional food systems like farmers’ markets and food hubs and to spur research on organic farming. The local food movement has been one of the fastest growing segments of the business, as consumers …Read More

News Release — Sen. Patrick Leahy, Contact Jay Tilton, Jay_Tilton@leahy.senate.gov WASHINGTON (THURSDAY, July 17, 2014) – Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Thursday announced $13 million in funding to help farmers working to earn their organic certifications. Leahy – considered the “father” of the national organic standards and labeling program – fought to include the organic certification …Read More

By: BERRY KENNEDY ANN ARBOR, Mich. — In February, Barack Obama signed into law a new Farm Bill, a piece of legislation passed every five years that was likened by the president to a “Swiss Army knife” and covers a range of issues that go beyond agriculture to health and nutrition, conservation, food stamps and more. …Read More

BY COOKSON BEECHER Rumblings over a new USDA policy about which synthetic (non-organic) materials can be used in organic agriculture sparked heated blowback on legal and political fronts during a four-day meeting late last month of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) in Texas. Those against the new policy believe it could make it more …Read More

By Scott Donnelly, GRANVILLE — For Michael Kilpatrick, the decision to become a Department of Agriculture Certified Organic grower came down to timing. There was a time when Kilpatrick felt the USDA program was tarnished by the influence of big politics and even bigger farms. And while the agency remains the target of such criticism …Read More